Suicide watchman saves scores at death spot
AP, 13 June 2010
A former life insurance salesman has "sold life" to scores of people trying to end it all at Australia's most notorious suicide spot.
In nearly 50 years Don Ritchie, 84, has saved at least 160 people at The Gap, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour--and he is still on suicide watch.
Lost souls who stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, say their salvation was a soft voice breaking the sound of the wind and the waves, asking: "Why don't you come and have a cup of tea?"
And when they turned to the stranger, they say his smile made them want to live.
Mr Ritchie, who lives across the street from The Gap, is widely regarded as a guardian angel who has shepherded countless people away from the edge.
What some consider grim, Mr Ritchie considers a gift.
"You can't just sit there and watch them," he said, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside.
"You gotta try and save them. It's pretty simple."
Since the 1800s, Australians have flocked to The Gap to end their lives, with little more than a 3ft fence separating them from the edge. Local officials say around one person a week commits suicide there and in January, Woollahra Council applied for nearly £1.2 million government funding to build a higher fence and tighten security.
In the meantime, Mr Ritchie keeps up his voluntary watch. The council recently named him and his wife of 58 years, Moya, 2010's Citizens of the Year.
He has saved 160 people, according to the official tally, but that is only an estimate. Mr Ritchie does not keep count but says he has watched far more walk away from the edge than go over it.
Dianne Gaddin likes to believe Mr Ritchie was at her daughter's side before she jumped in 2005. Though he cannot remember now, she is comforted by the idea that Tracy felt his warmth in her final moments.
"He's an angel," she says. "Most people would be too afraid to do anything and would probably sooner turn away and run away. But he had the courage and the charisma and the care and the magnetism to reach people who were coming to the end of their tether."
Each morning, Mr Ritchie climbs out of bed, pads over to the bedroom window of his modest, two-storey home, and scans the cliff. If he spots anyone standing alone too close to the precipice, he hurries to their side.
Some he speaks to are fighting medical problems, others suffering mental illness.
Sometimes, the ones who jump leave behind reminders of themselves on the edge--notes, wallets, shoes. Mr Ritchie once rushed over to help a man on crutches, but by the time he arrived, the crutches were all that remained.
In his younger years, he would occasionally climb the fence to hold people back while his wife called the police. He would help rescue crews haul up the bodies of those who could not be saved and would invite the rescuers back to his house afterwards for a comforting drink.
It nearly cost him his life once. A chilling picture captured decades ago by a local news photographer shows Mr Ritchie struggling with a woman, inches from the edge. The woman is seen trying to launch herself over the side--with Mr Ritchie the only thing between her and the abyss. Had she been successful, he would have gone over too.
These days, he keeps a safer distance. The council installed security cameras this year and the invention of mobile phones means someone often calls for help before he crosses the street.
But he remains available to lend an ear, though he says he never tries to counsel, advise or pry. He just gives them a warm smile, asks if they would like to talk and invites them back to his house for tea. Sometimes, they join him.
By offering compassion, Mr Ritchie helps those who are suicidal think beyond the terrible present moment, says psychiatrist Gordon Parker, executive director of the Black Dog Institute, a mood disorder research centre that has supported the council's efforts to improve safety at The Gap.
"They often don't want to die, it's more that they want the pain to go away," Mr Parker said. "So anyone that offers kindness or hope has the capacity to help a number of people."
Wednesday 16 June 2010
Tuesday 15 June 2010
How can we do this? Do you know?
Does anyone have an idea how we can do this?
Last night these thoughts came to me and I want to ask you for your help and thoughts:
Can´t we all see the clouds gathering on the horizon, some being even near and above?
They will break eventually, and we can hear already the thunder in some places. We have also heard from the seers, different faiths and predictions that a great storm is to be expected sooner or later, a lot depending on peoples decisions and prayers.
Now my big question and concern lately has been, what can we do to prepare? What needs to be done to be ready and able to survive these times? When a storm is coming we take an umbrella when we go out, we fasten the ropes and make sure things can´t fly away, fall, and or be damaged by the wind and rains. A friend told me how they had in Germany such a storm recently that the big living room windows were bending and she was afraid that they would break!
Yesterday I watched the movie “Josef” about the amazing life of this patriarch and servant of God in good and bad times. He was used of God to save many lives from famine by interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh correctly which gave God’s warning and prepared him for what was to come, collecting during the good years so they had enough during the bad ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wQrQk0MODg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLk_WAP3h9E&feature=related
What does this mean for us? How can we prepare? What do we know of what is to come?
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He reveals his secrets unto His servants the prophets.” The Bible tells us. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was shown the future in a dream and Daniel the prophet interpreted it. (Daniel chapter 2). So God warns and shows in advance, so we can be prepared if we ask Him how.
In the prophecies of Sarah Hoffmann it talks about visions of the future with people who are prepared!
Let it be us…. Does anyone have an idea how we can do this?
http://www.moneyteachers.org/Hoffman.Prophecy.htm
“….The air seemed to be filled with smoke as many buildings and cities burned and no one put them out. As I looked upon the scene of chaos, destruction and smoke, I noticed that there were these little pockets of light scattered all over the United States. There were, I would guess, about twenty or thirty of them. I noticed that most of these places of light were in the Western part of the United States, with only three or four in the East.
These places of light seemed to shine through the darkness and caught my attention and so I concentrated on them, asking, “what are these things?”
I could then see that they were people who had gathered together and they were on their knees and they were praying. The light was coming from them and I understood that it represented their goodness and love. I understood that they had gathered together for safety and that they cared more for each other than for themselves. Some of the groups were small, with only a hundred people or so, but in other groups there were what seemed several thousand.
I realized that somehow many, if not most of these cities of light had been established just before the disease attack and that they were very organized. It was like they had known what was coming and had prepared for it. I didn’t see who or what had organized them, but I saw many people struggling to get to them with nothing but what they could carry.
These cities of light had food and were sharing their food with those who joined them in their groups. There was peace and safety in the groups. They were living in tents, all kinds of tents, many of which were just blankets, covering poles. I noticed that the gangs left these groups alone, choosing to pick on easier targets and unprotected people. They also preyed on the people who were trying to get to the cities of light. Many people in these cities of light had guns to defend themselves with and so the gangs left them alone but it seemed that the gangs just didn’t want to come against them.”
There are many more prophecies like from Mitar Tarabich, Nostradamus etc.
http://www.futurerevealed.com/future/texts-date-2.htm
We can´t prepare by ignoring the clouds and warnings.
Our best preparation is to be close to and led by God, and to be under His protection.
The safest place is in the will of God.
“See, I am with you always, even until the end of the world.” Jesus said.
Last night these thoughts came to me and I want to ask you for your help and thoughts:
Can´t we all see the clouds gathering on the horizon, some being even near and above?
They will break eventually, and we can hear already the thunder in some places. We have also heard from the seers, different faiths and predictions that a great storm is to be expected sooner or later, a lot depending on peoples decisions and prayers.
Now my big question and concern lately has been, what can we do to prepare? What needs to be done to be ready and able to survive these times? When a storm is coming we take an umbrella when we go out, we fasten the ropes and make sure things can´t fly away, fall, and or be damaged by the wind and rains. A friend told me how they had in Germany such a storm recently that the big living room windows were bending and she was afraid that they would break!
Yesterday I watched the movie “Josef” about the amazing life of this patriarch and servant of God in good and bad times. He was used of God to save many lives from famine by interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh correctly which gave God’s warning and prepared him for what was to come, collecting during the good years so they had enough during the bad ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wQrQk0MODg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLk_WAP3h9E&feature=related
What does this mean for us? How can we prepare? What do we know of what is to come?
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He reveals his secrets unto His servants the prophets.” The Bible tells us. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was shown the future in a dream and Daniel the prophet interpreted it. (Daniel chapter 2). So God warns and shows in advance, so we can be prepared if we ask Him how.
In the prophecies of Sarah Hoffmann it talks about visions of the future with people who are prepared!
Let it be us…. Does anyone have an idea how we can do this?
http://www.moneyteachers.org/Hoffman.Prophecy.htm
“….The air seemed to be filled with smoke as many buildings and cities burned and no one put them out. As I looked upon the scene of chaos, destruction and smoke, I noticed that there were these little pockets of light scattered all over the United States. There were, I would guess, about twenty or thirty of them. I noticed that most of these places of light were in the Western part of the United States, with only three or four in the East.
These places of light seemed to shine through the darkness and caught my attention and so I concentrated on them, asking, “what are these things?”
I could then see that they were people who had gathered together and they were on their knees and they were praying. The light was coming from them and I understood that it represented their goodness and love. I understood that they had gathered together for safety and that they cared more for each other than for themselves. Some of the groups were small, with only a hundred people or so, but in other groups there were what seemed several thousand.
I realized that somehow many, if not most of these cities of light had been established just before the disease attack and that they were very organized. It was like they had known what was coming and had prepared for it. I didn’t see who or what had organized them, but I saw many people struggling to get to them with nothing but what they could carry.
These cities of light had food and were sharing their food with those who joined them in their groups. There was peace and safety in the groups. They were living in tents, all kinds of tents, many of which were just blankets, covering poles. I noticed that the gangs left these groups alone, choosing to pick on easier targets and unprotected people. They also preyed on the people who were trying to get to the cities of light. Many people in these cities of light had guns to defend themselves with and so the gangs left them alone but it seemed that the gangs just didn’t want to come against them.”
There are many more prophecies like from Mitar Tarabich, Nostradamus etc.
http://www.futurerevealed.com/future/texts-date-2.htm
We can´t prepare by ignoring the clouds and warnings.
Our best preparation is to be close to and led by God, and to be under His protection.
The safest place is in the will of God.
“See, I am with you always, even until the end of the world.” Jesus said.
Friday 4 June 2010
Be the one
Be The One: Serve
By John Maxwell, June 1, 2010
In life, it's not what happens to you, but what happens in you and through you that counts. When adversity visits your life, you have two choices: to be a victim or to be a victor. Victims allow circumstances to get them down, and they spend their lives asking others to redress the grievances life has dealt them. Victims are needy and demand to be served. Victors, on the other hand, rise above the challenges they encounter. They rebound from life's hardships with newfound strength, and they use their strength in service of those around them.
Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon was born in 1860 to a wealthy family in Savannah, Georgia. Far from the typical Southern belle, Juliette was willful and tomboyish, always in search of adventure. She was the type of person never to be caught sitting still; she enjoyed trying new things and traveling new places.
In her mid-twenties, the first of a series of misfortunes struck Juliette. Suffering from chronic earaches, she sought medical care, but doctors mistreated her. As a consequence, Juliette lost the majority of her hearing in one ear. The following year, Juliette was married, but as she and the groom exited the ceremony a grain of rice, tossed by a well-wisher, lodged in her good ear. While attempting to remove the grain, a doctor punctured her eardrum, and Juliette lost hearing in her second ear.
For someone who enjoyed an active lifestyle, deafness could have been devastating, but Juliette persevered. She moved to her husband's estate in England where she became a favorite in social circles. Her humor and vivacity made her a sought-after guest and celebrated hostess.
However, Juliette soon crossed paths with tragedy again. Her husband's alcohol abuse and infidelity contributed to the gradual decline of their relationship, and in the middle of divorce proceedings, Juliette's husband died from a stroke. To make matters worse, he bequeathed his substantial estate to his mistress rather than giving it to Juliette.
Having lost her hearing, her husband, and her home, you would have expected Juliette to feel bitter and victimized. However, at this very point in her life, she chose to serve. Somehow, she moved past her own tragic circumstances to see the good she could do for others.
Having befriended Sir Robin Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, Juliette became intrigued by the Girl Guides, Britain's sister organization to the Boy Scouts. The Girl Guides program awakened passion in Juliette, reminding her of youthful adventures from days gone by. With the help of Sir Baden-Powell, Juliette returned to the United States with a notion to launch the Girl Scouts.
Over the next 15 years, Juliette devoted her life to pioneering the Girl Scouts of the USA. She founded its inaugural troop, authored its bylaws and handbooks, and solicited its startup funds. Thanks to her tireless recruiting and relentless campaigning, the Girl Scouts program blossomed. The organization was such a source of joy for Juliette that, when diagnosed with cancer, she hid the illness as long as possible in order to continue advancing the scouting movement. While she never had children of her own, by the time of her death Juliette had an "adopted family" of more than 160,000 girl scouts. Her legacy lives on today in the 3.4 million young ladies who belong to local Girl Scout troops in America.
Study may shed light on when it's appropriate to remove wisdom teeth
By Laura Hambleton, The Washington Post, June 1, 2010
Bethesda oral surgeon David Ross studied the X-ray of my 17-year-old daughter's mouth. She had 28 fully grown adult teeth, with long roots, looking pretty straight after a few years of orthodontia. In her upper jaw, though, two errant teeth floated above the rest out of alignment, lurking in the shadows.
"These teeth are completely impacted," said Ross, pointing to where they hid in her upper jaw, to explain his recommendation to pull them. "In this position, they probably aren't going to drop down."
Or they might. And if they do, my daughter would have two perfectly functioning molars at the back of her upper jaw.
But if the teeth don't come through or push through only part way, they might cause problems down the road. Ross showed us the X-ray of a 75-year-old man who left in place a wisdom tooth that was now growing sideways, surrounded by a cyst. The man's jawbone could be in jeopardy, and so the choice was clear: The tooth needed to come out.
For my daughter and me, the decision was not so straightforward. We had to weigh the risks of possibly unnecessary surgery against the advantage of taking the teeth out then, while their roots were less formed and easier to pull, in the hope that she would avoid problems--ranging from infection and damage to adjacent teeth to cysts or even tumors--that might, or might not, happen in the future.
This is the dilemma for those whose wisdom teeth aren't causing them problems.
Dentists often recommend that young people get those teeth pulled, particularly before they head off to college for the first time. Yet, as I discovered when trying to decide what to do with my daughter's two errant teeth, there just aren't any etched-in-stone, must-do rules, good scientific studies or even helpful statistics to indicate when it is reasonable to pull a wisdom tooth and when you can leave it.
A controversial 2007 article in the American Journal of Public Health by retired dentist Jay Friedman likened pulling an asymptomatic wisdom tooth to removing a healthy appendix just to prevent the future possibility of appendicitis. "If there's no evidence to support a surgical procedure, then it should not be done," he said. But others say that there aren't enough data to support that conclusion--or any other at this point.
The National Institutes of Health hopes to fill in some of these statistical and clinical gaps through a study it launched a year ago that is following 750 dental patients in five northwestern states. The study will look at the reasons given by general dentists when they recommend either keeping or pulling third molars and what the patients then decide to do. It will follow those patients for two years after their decision to assess rates of complications, according to Greg Huang, principal investigator for the study and head of the Department of Orthodontics at University of Washington School of Dentistry.
"There isn't any good information about the life cycle of third molars," said Donald DeNucci, a periodontist with NIH'S National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Bethesda. "In Great Britain, they have been looking at this closer. They state that if a wisdom tooth has a cavity or is causing swelling of the gum or has periodontal issues, remove it. Then things move into the gray area, where it's not so clear. In Great Britain, the National Health Service now says if impacted wisdom teeth are not causing problems, don't remove them." DeNucci said the NIH study will help oral surgeons and dentists in this country make informed decisions about wisdom teeth based on scientific evidence.
Most people are born with four wisdom teeth, or third molars, which ordinarily begin to come into the mouth between ages 17 and 25. "They are called wisdom teeth, I suppose, because they come in during the late teens and 20s, when a man begins to possess some wisdom," said DeNucci.
Wisdom teeth can become impacted--or trapped in the jawbone, unable to grow above the gum--for a variety of reasons, most commonly for a lack of space or because another tooth is in the way. Or the teeth grow in a skewed manner, sideways in the gum or at a slant toward adjacent teeth.
Chevy Chase dentist Steven Kahan, who has been practicing for 40 years, said: "It is the kind of thing where all of us make a somewhat educated guess. You can't always predict how a tooth will grow. I have one wisdom tooth locked in my upper arch, and it's been there forever. The advice of the oral surgeon when I was in dental school was to leave it alone. I've never had a problem."
Yet it is clear that there can be problems.
"Sometimes a sac forms around a wisdom tooth," said Washington dentist Richard Steinlen, who estimates he has cared for about 4,000 patients a year during his 28-year career. "Mouths are more cyst-prone than other parts of the body. Lots of cysts form around wisdom teeth."
Partially erupted wisdom teeth also create troubles because they are hard to clean, he said. As a result, food can get lodged in the back of the mouth and create a perfect environment for a bacterial infection called pericoronitis, which can cause pressure, pain and swelling. (Antibiotics are often prescribed to treat it.) In addition, partially erupted wisdom teeth are prone to tooth decay.
Thomas Dodson, a professor of oral surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and author of an April study in the British journal Clinical Evidence that reviewed other studies on impacted wisdom teeth, found that 25 percent of patients who had wisdom teeth without symptoms had periodontal disease on those teeth.
According to Dodson, this shows that the absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of disease. As a result, he said, patients who keep their wisdom teeth should be monitored periodically to assess the health of those teeth.
Often when Dodson tells patients with asymptomatic wisdom teeth that "there are no data" to help them decide whether to pull the teeth, "60 percent elect extraction; 40 percent choose to retain the wisdom teeth and schedule a two-year follow-up visit with me," he said.
Dodson noted that whatever the patient decides, the surgery has become easier.
Still, pulling a wisdom tooth is surgery, and surgery can lead to problems. Wisdom teeth in the upper jaw can be very close to sinuses, which can get perforated during surgery. The lower teeth, meanwhile, lie very close to several nerves; damaging them can cause temporary or even permanent numbness in the lips, tongue or chin.
"But the most common complication is infection," Dodson said, and "that happens one in 20 times. Then there can be postoperative bleeding, nerve injury and a host of rare complications, such as a possible break in the jaw. Dry socket [which occurs when the blood clot that is left after a tooth is pulled dislodges and the bone is exposed] and infection can be as high as one in 20."
By John Maxwell, June 1, 2010
In life, it's not what happens to you, but what happens in you and through you that counts. When adversity visits your life, you have two choices: to be a victim or to be a victor. Victims allow circumstances to get them down, and they spend their lives asking others to redress the grievances life has dealt them. Victims are needy and demand to be served. Victors, on the other hand, rise above the challenges they encounter. They rebound from life's hardships with newfound strength, and they use their strength in service of those around them.
Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon was born in 1860 to a wealthy family in Savannah, Georgia. Far from the typical Southern belle, Juliette was willful and tomboyish, always in search of adventure. She was the type of person never to be caught sitting still; she enjoyed trying new things and traveling new places.
In her mid-twenties, the first of a series of misfortunes struck Juliette. Suffering from chronic earaches, she sought medical care, but doctors mistreated her. As a consequence, Juliette lost the majority of her hearing in one ear. The following year, Juliette was married, but as she and the groom exited the ceremony a grain of rice, tossed by a well-wisher, lodged in her good ear. While attempting to remove the grain, a doctor punctured her eardrum, and Juliette lost hearing in her second ear.
For someone who enjoyed an active lifestyle, deafness could have been devastating, but Juliette persevered. She moved to her husband's estate in England where she became a favorite in social circles. Her humor and vivacity made her a sought-after guest and celebrated hostess.
However, Juliette soon crossed paths with tragedy again. Her husband's alcohol abuse and infidelity contributed to the gradual decline of their relationship, and in the middle of divorce proceedings, Juliette's husband died from a stroke. To make matters worse, he bequeathed his substantial estate to his mistress rather than giving it to Juliette.
Having lost her hearing, her husband, and her home, you would have expected Juliette to feel bitter and victimized. However, at this very point in her life, she chose to serve. Somehow, she moved past her own tragic circumstances to see the good she could do for others.
Having befriended Sir Robin Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, Juliette became intrigued by the Girl Guides, Britain's sister organization to the Boy Scouts. The Girl Guides program awakened passion in Juliette, reminding her of youthful adventures from days gone by. With the help of Sir Baden-Powell, Juliette returned to the United States with a notion to launch the Girl Scouts.
Over the next 15 years, Juliette devoted her life to pioneering the Girl Scouts of the USA. She founded its inaugural troop, authored its bylaws and handbooks, and solicited its startup funds. Thanks to her tireless recruiting and relentless campaigning, the Girl Scouts program blossomed. The organization was such a source of joy for Juliette that, when diagnosed with cancer, she hid the illness as long as possible in order to continue advancing the scouting movement. While she never had children of her own, by the time of her death Juliette had an "adopted family" of more than 160,000 girl scouts. Her legacy lives on today in the 3.4 million young ladies who belong to local Girl Scout troops in America.
Study may shed light on when it's appropriate to remove wisdom teeth
By Laura Hambleton, The Washington Post, June 1, 2010
Bethesda oral surgeon David Ross studied the X-ray of my 17-year-old daughter's mouth. She had 28 fully grown adult teeth, with long roots, looking pretty straight after a few years of orthodontia. In her upper jaw, though, two errant teeth floated above the rest out of alignment, lurking in the shadows.
"These teeth are completely impacted," said Ross, pointing to where they hid in her upper jaw, to explain his recommendation to pull them. "In this position, they probably aren't going to drop down."
Or they might. And if they do, my daughter would have two perfectly functioning molars at the back of her upper jaw.
But if the teeth don't come through or push through only part way, they might cause problems down the road. Ross showed us the X-ray of a 75-year-old man who left in place a wisdom tooth that was now growing sideways, surrounded by a cyst. The man's jawbone could be in jeopardy, and so the choice was clear: The tooth needed to come out.
For my daughter and me, the decision was not so straightforward. We had to weigh the risks of possibly unnecessary surgery against the advantage of taking the teeth out then, while their roots were less formed and easier to pull, in the hope that she would avoid problems--ranging from infection and damage to adjacent teeth to cysts or even tumors--that might, or might not, happen in the future.
This is the dilemma for those whose wisdom teeth aren't causing them problems.
Dentists often recommend that young people get those teeth pulled, particularly before they head off to college for the first time. Yet, as I discovered when trying to decide what to do with my daughter's two errant teeth, there just aren't any etched-in-stone, must-do rules, good scientific studies or even helpful statistics to indicate when it is reasonable to pull a wisdom tooth and when you can leave it.
A controversial 2007 article in the American Journal of Public Health by retired dentist Jay Friedman likened pulling an asymptomatic wisdom tooth to removing a healthy appendix just to prevent the future possibility of appendicitis. "If there's no evidence to support a surgical procedure, then it should not be done," he said. But others say that there aren't enough data to support that conclusion--or any other at this point.
The National Institutes of Health hopes to fill in some of these statistical and clinical gaps through a study it launched a year ago that is following 750 dental patients in five northwestern states. The study will look at the reasons given by general dentists when they recommend either keeping or pulling third molars and what the patients then decide to do. It will follow those patients for two years after their decision to assess rates of complications, according to Greg Huang, principal investigator for the study and head of the Department of Orthodontics at University of Washington School of Dentistry.
"There isn't any good information about the life cycle of third molars," said Donald DeNucci, a periodontist with NIH'S National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Bethesda. "In Great Britain, they have been looking at this closer. They state that if a wisdom tooth has a cavity or is causing swelling of the gum or has periodontal issues, remove it. Then things move into the gray area, where it's not so clear. In Great Britain, the National Health Service now says if impacted wisdom teeth are not causing problems, don't remove them." DeNucci said the NIH study will help oral surgeons and dentists in this country make informed decisions about wisdom teeth based on scientific evidence.
Most people are born with four wisdom teeth, or third molars, which ordinarily begin to come into the mouth between ages 17 and 25. "They are called wisdom teeth, I suppose, because they come in during the late teens and 20s, when a man begins to possess some wisdom," said DeNucci.
Wisdom teeth can become impacted--or trapped in the jawbone, unable to grow above the gum--for a variety of reasons, most commonly for a lack of space or because another tooth is in the way. Or the teeth grow in a skewed manner, sideways in the gum or at a slant toward adjacent teeth.
Chevy Chase dentist Steven Kahan, who has been practicing for 40 years, said: "It is the kind of thing where all of us make a somewhat educated guess. You can't always predict how a tooth will grow. I have one wisdom tooth locked in my upper arch, and it's been there forever. The advice of the oral surgeon when I was in dental school was to leave it alone. I've never had a problem."
Yet it is clear that there can be problems.
"Sometimes a sac forms around a wisdom tooth," said Washington dentist Richard Steinlen, who estimates he has cared for about 4,000 patients a year during his 28-year career. "Mouths are more cyst-prone than other parts of the body. Lots of cysts form around wisdom teeth."
Partially erupted wisdom teeth also create troubles because they are hard to clean, he said. As a result, food can get lodged in the back of the mouth and create a perfect environment for a bacterial infection called pericoronitis, which can cause pressure, pain and swelling. (Antibiotics are often prescribed to treat it.) In addition, partially erupted wisdom teeth are prone to tooth decay.
Thomas Dodson, a professor of oral surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and author of an April study in the British journal Clinical Evidence that reviewed other studies on impacted wisdom teeth, found that 25 percent of patients who had wisdom teeth without symptoms had periodontal disease on those teeth.
According to Dodson, this shows that the absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of disease. As a result, he said, patients who keep their wisdom teeth should be monitored periodically to assess the health of those teeth.
Often when Dodson tells patients with asymptomatic wisdom teeth that "there are no data" to help them decide whether to pull the teeth, "60 percent elect extraction; 40 percent choose to retain the wisdom teeth and schedule a two-year follow-up visit with me," he said.
Dodson noted that whatever the patient decides, the surgery has become easier.
Still, pulling a wisdom tooth is surgery, and surgery can lead to problems. Wisdom teeth in the upper jaw can be very close to sinuses, which can get perforated during surgery. The lower teeth, meanwhile, lie very close to several nerves; damaging them can cause temporary or even permanent numbness in the lips, tongue or chin.
"But the most common complication is infection," Dodson said, and "that happens one in 20 times. Then there can be postoperative bleeding, nerve injury and a host of rare complications, such as a possible break in the jaw. Dry socket [which occurs when the blood clot that is left after a tooth is pulled dislodges and the bone is exposed] and infection can be as high as one in 20."
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